A CONSULTANT’S APPROACH
OVERVIEW
This activity is to develop a shell program for the establishment of local Methodist Men’s units consistent with specified purpose and vision statements for the indicated constituencies. It must be sufficiently flexible to operate in all sizes of churches and communities and must provide an adequate communication capability to reach all male church members and selected non-members of the greater local community. It is important to understand that much of men’s ministry is supporting
and sponsoring activities and events not limited to men or members. We need to
publicize this feature.
PROGRAM INITIATION
Select an agent/advisor (AA) to be the communication link to all other parts of the men’s organization. The senior pastor, AA and a member of the district men’s leadership team should meet to formulate expectations for the ministry. Their focus should start with where they wish to be in five years and work back to the current period.
MEMBERSHIP
Establish a computerized data base of member information and augment it with biographical data and skill/interest indicators. Put your sedentary members to work interviewing each other. Encourage a creative, can-do attitude in the process. Classify members by age & family status so that specific groups can be identified and quantified. Recruit assistants from interviewees to complete data assimilation. Identify how to reach help of various kinds for all members and post it visibly. Where Stephen Ministers are available make it well known and easy to access. Every member is important and everyone can help build a viable local group according to their own capabilities and interests. Involvement by membership builds a vibrant unit.
COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT
It is important to note community traditions and major scheduled events to enable coordination and avoid conflict. School programming for sporting or other events may provide special opportunities. Local libraries, museums or YMCA’s host
their own calendar of events. Service groups like Rotary, Kiwanis and Jr. Chamber of Commerce host activities and events with goals common to our ministry that we may wish to support. Professional sporting, dramatic or musical performances may be scheduled that attract large crowds of people. County and state fairs likewise draw large crowds to their communities. All of these activities provide opportunities for event-based programming.
EVENT-BASED PROGRAMMING
Event-based programming enables men’s ministry to serve a far greater portion of church membership and brings the community into church proximity, encouraging new membership. It also helps small churches piggy-back on other events, reducing necessary resources. Nearly all events are open to the public and few are limited to men. Event-based programming allows activities to be focused on specific target audiences like veterans, new parents, recent graduates, singles ministry or age-specific activities.
Business activities should be accomplished monthly in short, open executive committee meetings.
A schedule of major quarterly activities with some combination of fund raising, outreach, relationship building and skill development/mind improvement as their purpose is suggested with smaller, more targeted activities occurring between them. Most events should be scheduled at least one year in advance to enable adequate time for publicity.
If a church feels it cannot handle four major events, they can co-op with other local units or plug into a district or conference activity. Each fall the conference holds a retreat that could be used as a planning event with a separate meeting room for your group. Districts often hold events like bowling tournaments or potato drops. Maintaining calendar awareness is thus important.
COMMON CALENDAR ESTABLISHMENT
A common calendar should be maintained that includes district and conference activities, events for other close-by men’s groups, activities of local civic groups and other community calendars. Local units should be helping each other in fund-raising efforts. A common calendar will make you aware of opportunities to
serve at or raise funds from another’s event.
SMALL GROUP ALTERNATIVE
The easiest start to a local men’s unit is for three or more men to meet once per week in Wesleyan fashion to commit to 1 or more tasks worthy of their abilities in the next week and to describe how they did on the prior week’s commitment. By joining forces they will be able to begin expanding their impact and adding team members.
Church welcome teams usually include several men and form an ideal core for a new men’s group. Likewise church musical groups may provide that core. Individuals can always join an existing Zoom bible study or a district Men’s Bull Session. If a few friends join you, you have the core for a new unit. If you need
More men, consider non-members.
ACTIVITY SELECTION
Start by identifying the segments of the community that you would like to attract to proximity of your church and design a program or programs to reach those segments. A popular demographic for many churches is young adults. You would therefore expect to to find serious consideration to new married couples, expectant parents, deployed military/recent veterans, competitive activities and youth/scout programming. Strangely, this is rarely the case.
Try to think from the perspective of the segments you select. What will attract them? What kind of services or opportunities can you provide? Single parents are really limited if they do not have extended family help. Could a small group of men and significant others find a way to help a few of these folks? I hear membership expanding! Do you support a scouting activity? Don’t forget the parents – they fit your desired age demographic.
Use your skill/interest data to find small ways to build ministries. Do you have a master Lego builder that could guide less talented builders? Do you have the makings of a male quartet? You might have to find two non-members to make it work. Well, do it! You may not have enough youth to form a basketball team. Who said that all of the players had to come from our church? Most of the things that we don’t do, we don’t do because we give up too easily. You say you only have three active men in your church? Join a Zoom bible study that already exists. Take your three on a road trip to another men’s group. Sign up as drivers or chaperones for a youth/scout trip. Become contributors to the Conference web site. Start a men’s bull session with the men in your vicinity and do it by Zoom to reach a broader demographic. If you have writing skills, technical skills, musical skills, teaching skills, communication skills or organizing talent put them to work. You don’t have to wait for others – contact your district or conference leadership and they’ll get you assimilated.
The biggest single factor in activity selection is the combined skill/interest tallies of your members. This data is mission critical for continuing success. It also helps build an energetic presentation team. Since we represent the church in the community it is imperative that we maintain a high class activity. Where possible,
utilize free-will offerings as opposed to entry fees. Find creative ways to capture attendee information such as name & contact info for door prizes and don’t lose it.
Select a fund raiser as the first major event as this will provide a better financial position for following activities. Trivia nights, bbq’s, competitive contests/tournaments, special event ticket sales, providing food or services at major attendance events, etc. are just some of the less creative options. Try to select a fund raiser that appeals beyond your church walls so that you don’t rob Peter to pay Paul. The best time for fund-raisers is spring and summer when you do not conflict with church pledge programs. Programs that require skill, encourage bragging rights and involve long-term participation will increase payout over time. Intentionally involve school age team members – they enhance the offering and draw attendees. Include creative ways for team members to enjoy their efforts.
Publicize attendance of well-known folks, particularly radio/tv/sports personalities. Skill challenges against specified personalities often work well. You must start early – not less than one year in advance to take advantage of publicity and personalities. The schedules of today’s young and middle aged are often filled 90 days in advance.
Consider the first mission oriented event to be youth or scouting focused. These events generally encourage volunteers. Supporting an existing scouting program eliminates the program design & setup functions that require extensive volunteer manpower.
As you plan events, always keep your purpose statement in mind – are you addressing all elements? Can you expand your scope? Can you effectively merge programs? Keep checking your common calendars for unexpected opportunities. The number of activities going on in one weekend in an urban community is mind-boggling, so be creative and flexible. Above all, get names and contact data on all attendees, particularly new faces. It’s also important to pay attention to who didn’t show up. That may be an indicator of future problems you can solve better now.
PUBLICITY
The success of events often are determined by the effectiveness of the publicity they receive. Failure to publicize early will diminish attendance and/or participation. The image portrayed of your men’s group and your church will be most effected by your post event activity. If you invite news media, your coverage is enhanced. If you creatively use “personalities” you encourage coverage. Facebook photos are a must. Did you forget to assign a photographer? If you were creative enough to provide an attention-getting “hook”, your much more likely to be remembered.
FOLLOW-UP
The most often missed step in event programming is the post event evaluation. This is the opportunity to identify what worked and what didn’t work. This is the time to make changes in the approach for the next related event. The UMMen are notorious for not starting an event in time to publicize it. Just maybe we should pay more attention to this process!!!
Have I got you in a creative mindset? How about starting a special agent section of our UMMen composed of pre-youth “men”. They have an abundance of enthusiasm, have the ability to learn how to be real men from your guidance and they put you in proximity to their under forty parents that go where they go.